1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for mounting inductive components on a circuit board, and more particularly to a surface mount package for transformers, toroids, inductors and the like which facilitate automated fabrication of such circuit board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Surface mounting of components on a circuit board is replacing lead mounting through circuit board holes with subsequent wave soldering or the like. For surface mounting, conductive pads on a circuit board are coated with a solder paste, components with corresponding conductive pads are placed on the circuit board, and the components are soldered to the circuit board using reflow solder techniques. This process is highly automated by use of a "pick and place" automated machine which picks the necessary components from an appropriate reel of such components and places the component in the appropriate position on the circuit board, all under microprocessor control.
For resistors, capacitors and integrated circuit chips the surface mounting technique is very efficient. However, toroids and the like inductive elements still require leads and hand-mounting on the circuit boards.
As shown in FIG. 1 this prior method requires that a toroid 10, or the like, be secured to a circuit board 12 by a rubber rattail 14 passing through holes 16 in the board, and/or by its leads 18 passing through holes 20 in the board and soldered thereto. The toroid may be either mounted flat, as shown, or on its edge. This results in a time consuming and expensive step in completing a circuit board, as well as reducing the quality of the finished product. Therefore, a surface mount package for such inductive components is desired.